#rivervale_lodge

A few days later, the Chieftain (looking much better) is enjoying a cup of coffee during a break from some garden work when she sees a satyr coming in through the Fenix trod. "Piper."

She stops, glancing over, a cloth wrapped bundle carefully held under one arm. "Chieftain, hi, I'm just heading over to the barn. Sorry about the traffic."

She glances to the trod door. "Piper, is all well in Fenix?" Concerned. "I have not been able to visit yet...."

A definitely hesitation. And she responds carefully. "Their raid was successful, but there are some lingering... bits of fallout. I'm trying to help. Zane is doing a working... and we need a skilled woodworker to help for a, a... prop, I guess it would be. I thought of Tove..."

Brekke puts down her coffee and approaches. "Let me. What is it?" Some restrained urgency.

A moment of hesitation, but she hasn't lived in RV for over a year without noticing the carved designs at the lodge, and knowing the the chieftain does some woodworking of her own. "To be honest, I'm not sure how much of the important lies in detailed etching so much as the feeling behind it..." And she unwraps the box to show her. Crafted of Birch, Cedar and Oak, and Ash and Thorn...

She takes care not to touch the wood herself, just holding it through the cloth.

"We need a design on the sides, something like this...." She pulls out the folded sketches as well.

Brekke looks at the craftsmanship. "Who created this? They have combined difficult woods into a single piece. Skillful." and she looks over the sketches.

"It's from a co-op near Fenix, is all I know?" Apologetic.

"They said that the types of wood are important... but it's all a bit over my head. I'm too grounded to understand higher working of glamour, like Zane..."

"Hm." An almost amused sound at the mention of the co-op, and she nods. "Different woods carry different powers and meaning. Are these designs by Zane as well?"

"I think he traced it." A nod. "It's supposed to be a scape goat..."

She frowns and gives Piper a serious look. "Piper...will somebody be harmed in the use of this device?"

A firm shake of her head. "No. It's mean to draw the bad juju away... into the box."

She can sense the truth there.

Brekke nods and goes to a cabinet where she fetches out a work kit of carving tools. "How much time do I have to work on this, Piper?"

"The sooner the better. I don't have a definitive timeline, but... I'd rather not wait a second longer than needed while - while someone is suffering."

A sharp look. "You or somebody else will explain after the work is done." And she sits down at one of the tables to begin her work.

"Chieftain - I said I wouldn't share this... But... I promise that it's only to help someone important. Someone WORTH helping. And... I'll ask them to tell you, when it's done. But I can't say if they will. I hope so."

An irritated grunt of acknowledgment, but she's already focused on her craft....wood shavings curl away and little chips fly.

She sits to one side, watching but trying to be unobtrusive.

Oddly, a sense of need does fall on the chieftain, and the balefire seems to lend itself to her efforts

Her hoof taps lightly to an internal beat, but when she notices this, she stills it, not watching to be a distraction.

She works, her large hands deft and careful on the shape of the carving, urging it to emerge from the surface of the box.

And it comes out, not her best work, she ...almost wants to scratch more on the other side.

A frustrated frown. It is because I am rushing...but the need is urgent...

And over where Piper is sitting, on a couch nearby, she softly sings to herself. Maybe not even aware that she's aloud, but the girls from Fenix have these songs stuck in her mind.

This grief has a gravity, it pulls me down
But a tiny voice whispers in my mind
You are lost, hope is gone
But you must go on...
And do the next right thing...

Can there be a day beyond this night?
I don't know anymore what is true
I can't find my direction, I'm all alone
The only star that guided me was you
How to rise from the floor?

But it's not you I'm rising for...
Just do the next right thing
Take a step, step again
It is all that I can to do
The next right thing...

A soft, gentle song about encouragement...

She furrows her brow...then carefully turns the box as Piper sings and works another image....

...and slowly, opposite to the altar-bound goat, a narwhal takes shape.

The image is full of energy, racing free through the waves.

A peek over, and she sees wood curling off the box... fingers cross.

And after some time...it is done. "There. I think...is this enough?" She holds it out for viewing.

She looks at the side with the goat on the altar and nods, then peers at the other side. A moment of confusion, concern - what if that affects the working? Too late now - hopefully they don't need another box... she asks carefully, "What, uh... made you choose that design?"

A faint hint of a grin. "I am not certain. But...it is what the box needed." The grin goes away as she looks at Piper. "This is about Siv, is it not?"

She reaches over to wrap the box back in the cloth, if the chieftain offers it over when she reaches. "...Please don't ask me to say what I've said I wouldn't, what's not my story to share. I've burned too many bridges to want to start again."

A frown, and she puts her hand on Piper's arm. She seems to be looking for words...but then shakes her head and releases her. "Go."

She hesitates, wrapping up the box, and offers out. "We'll make things right."

And she goes.

A nod, frowning.

She watches Piper go through the door...and then watches the closed door for a long time.

*********************

Colton kisses Syvli ... the celebration of victory is... intoxicating. "I had to see you ... you were in a fight. I should have been there"

"I wasn't in the fight," she corrects quietly between kisses.

When he said he'd be visiting, she met him outside, near the treeline, at the edge of the light cast by the Lodge's windows in the summer evening.

"Well, you helped..."

Crickets and tree frogs provide a soundtrack.

"I helped after, mostly..."

"Healing..."